Sports Briefs (July 11, 2013)Little Lizards football camp DARDANELLE — Keenan Field will host the annual Little Lizards football camp from 9 a.m. to noon Monday through Wednesday. Cost of the camp is $40. For more information, call coach Josh Price at (479) 477-0606. Church league softball signups Registration is underway for the fall season of church league softball to all area churches. Entry fee is $425 due July 31. Games will be played on Monday and Thursday nights. F...

Sports Briefs (July 7, 2013)Sixth annual Sand Lizard golf tournament July 27 DARDANELLE — The sixth annual Sand Lizard Golf Tournament will begin at 8 a.m. on July 27 at the Lion’s Den Golf Course. Cost for a two-person team is $120 and includes lunch. Prizes will be awarded for longest drive, closest to the pin as well as door prizes. Cogswell Motors will sponsor a $25,000 hole-in-one contest. For more information, call Teresa Smallwood at (479) 477-2226 or Lion’s Den G...

Little league players shine light on futureThere are as many reasons to play baseball as there are players that play the game. From T-ball, softball to baseball, players of all age groups come together on the diamond each summer for a whole host of reasons. There are players in the Arkansas River Valley who play baseball with little recognition or accolades, aside from that given by the family members in the stand. They are future high school players, future church league softball play...

Sports Briefs (June 27, 2013)Russellville Ski Area Trail dedication The city of Russellville invites the public to the dedication of the Russellville Ski Area Trail at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. The trail is located at 3694 Pleasant View Road in the competition water ski area on Pleasant View Park. The trail was funded by the parks portion of the one-cent sales tax. Dover youth football deadline is Saturday DOVER — Registration for participation in Dover Youth Football for the 2...

Sports Briefs (June 23, 2013)Outdoors, recreation meeting Tuesday The city of Russellville invites its citizens and other interested persons to a public meeting at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Hughes Community Center, 1000 East Parkway. The purpose of the meeting is to identify potential outdoor park and recreation needs and priorities for 2014. Following the identification process, city officials will select those priorities to be submitted to the Arkansas Department of Park...

Youth leagues try to rein in ’bad news parents’ BUFFALO GROVE, Ill. (AP) — No parent here has rushed onto a playing field to jump a referee who made an unpopular call. No adult has gotten angry and slugged or pushed a coach or a young player, as has happened elsewhere. Nor have there been any of those embarrassing sideline brawls you sometimes see posted on online video sites. At least nobody’s admitting to it. Still, parent behavior in this quiet suburb north of Chicago has been questionab...

Arkansas Tech football camp teaches focusIt’s odd how athletic my son is becoming as he grows older. It’s odd because I wonder where he gets it. It’s no secret — I was never any good at sports. I was a lousy football player, even though I enjoyed being a part of the team. Going even further back, I was no good at little league baseball. The last time I played catch (until very recently), I missed a ball thrown from my father and caught it with my face instead of my glove. My son, Gre...

Tech’s youth football camp comes to a closeThone Stadium at Buerkle Field felt the weight of a different proportioned athlete than usual during the Arkansas Tech University Youth Football Camp that began Monday and came to a close today. Tech’s yard lines were covered with pint-sized football players, ages 6-12, from across the Arkansas River Valley between 8 a.m. to noon for each day of the camp, which according to Wonder Boys graduate assistant coach Reggie Fish was a refreshing chan...

Hector hosts Wicked Wildcat peewee campHECTOR — Wicked Wildcat peewee basketball camp took place Monday through Thursday inside the Multi-Purpose Building on the Hector school campus. Next year’s students in grades 3-5 and grades 6-7 participated in separate morning camps. They learned fundamentals of both offense and defense and competed in several events including obstacle course, free throw contest, hot shot, and 1 on 1 tournament. Campers also competed for a hustle award every ...

Spring Lake hosts annual children's fishing derbyThe 25th annual Spring Lake Fishing Derby hostd 87 youngers 4-10 years of age on June 8. This popular event is sponsored by the Yell County Wildlife Federation (YCWF), Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) and U.S. Forest Service along with four dozen local co-sponsor donors that help fund the event. The children caught 211 pounds of channel catfish stocked by the AGFC in a netted cove at the west side of the lake on the Ozark National Fore...

Sports Briefs (June 9, 2013)Pirates basketball camp this week The Dover Pirates will host a boys basketball camp from 8:30-11:30 a.m. on Wednesday through Friday at the Dover High School Gym. The entry fee of $45 will include a T-shirt. Awards will be given in each division for various contests. Student athletic trainer workshop on July 22-23 CLARKSVILLE — University of the Ozarks head athletic trainer Chad Floyd will conduct a student athletic trainer workshop July 22-2...

Little leaguer overcomes challenges to play ballNot every little league player one day goes pro. Not every child is born with the same athletic abilities. For some, playing the game isn’t about winning or losing. Some play for the love of the game or the chance to experience something new. Sergio Gonzalez, 8, isn’t the typical baseball player. With hands that are missing fingers and have some digits fused together, activities such as holding a baseball or bat become difficult. “I told him t...

Prosecutors seek maximum for guilty youth coach TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — Federal prosecutors are seeking the maximum sentence for a former Texarkana-area youth baseball coach who pleaded guilty to molesting young players. Prosecutors are limited in the sentence they can pursue for 60-year-old Walter Richard Roberts because he pleaded guilty to alleged offenses that occurred in 1992. The Texarkana Gazette reported the maximum sentence for Roberts would be 10 years. The law has since been updat...

Russellville conducting free physicalsFree physicals for Russellville School District athletic and spirit groups will be given today and Wednesday. Male athletes need to report to the Russellville Junior High cafeteria at 6 p.m. today. Female athletes need to report to the Russellville Junior High School cafeteria at 6 p.m. Wednesday. All students need to enter the junior high on the west side under the covered walkway. Physical forms should be picked up from coaches at the middle...

ATU volleyball offers summer skill campsThe Arkansas Tech volleyball program and head coach Kristy Bayer will conduct a series of summer camps at Tucker Coliseum, with the first camp on May 29-30 at Tucker Coliseum. Camp information and online registration is available at www.arkansastechvolleyballcamps.com. The first camp will be the Lil’ Suns Camp from 6-8 p.m. on May 29-30. The evening sessions are open to grades 1-5, and are designed to help beginning volleyball players learn ba...

Sports Briefs (May 16, 2013)Pottsville peewee football sign-ups Saturday at City Hall POTTSVILLE — Peewee football and flag football registration for those in grades K-6 will take place from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday at Pottsville City Hall. Warrior athletics banquet Saturday LAMAR — The Lamar Warrior Booster Club will host the fifth annual athletic awards banquet at 5:30 p.m. May 18 in the Lamar Elementary Cafeteria. This year’s honorary speaker will be Robert Mummey, ass...

Predators win Van Buren tournament, 2nd in ConwayThe Predators 14-year-old baseball team won the Battle of the Bats tournament in Van Buren and finished second in a recent tournament in Conway. In pool play in Van Buren, the Predators beat the River Valley Rage 3-1, lost to the Maumelle Bulldogs 6-1 and went into bracket play as the third seed. The Predators needed just four innings to beat the River Valley Rage 15-0 in the semifinals. Layton Bicanovsky got things going in the top of the fir...

Mighty Ducks win Twin City ShootoutSHREVEPORT, La. — The Mighty Ducks had a close match in the championship game of the USSSA Twin City Shootout Super NIT against the Keller Crush-Royal, but was still able to edge their opponent 7-6 to secure the title. The Crush led 3-0 early on, but the Ducks answered with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. Jackson Shrivner entered in the second and shut the Crush down. Arkansas held on for the eventual 7-6 victory. “There were a l...